Adare Manor makes it four consecutive wins with Clement Hirsch Stakes
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DEL MAR, Calif. – A different racetrack and a new race complexion produced the same result Saturday at Del Mar, where heavily favored Adare Manor confirmed leadership of the California filly and mare dirt division by scoring her first Grade 1 victory in the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes.
After winning her last three starts setting the pace at Santa Anita, Adare Manor ($3.20) raced in second position in the Hirsch, took over from Elm Drive into the lane, and won by a length over late runner Desert Dawn. Elm Drive held third, followed by Kirstenbosch and Fun to Dream.
Bob Baffert trains Adare Manor for owner Michael Lund Peterson; Juan Hernandez rode the 4-year-old filly Saturday to her sixth win from 12 starts. It was the first time this year she won from off the pace, and the first time she won a race at a track other than Santa Anita.
“I knew she wouldn’t have the lead,” Baffert said. “I knew (Elm Drive) was going to go. As long as you give (Adare Manor) a chance to run, and don’t let (Elm Drive) get away.”
Adare Manor is a big filly, and Hernandez said he “had to help her out of the gate a little bit, because she was a little slow from the gate today.”
By midway on the first turn, no problems. Adare Manor raced outside Elm Drive in second position as Hernandez stayed busy while not allowing the pacesetter to steal away. “My filly relaxed really well, and at the quarter pole, she exploded,” Hernandez said.
The final time for the 1 1/16-mile race was 1:43.33 as Adare Manor extended her graded stakes win streak to three races. She won a pair of Grade 2s this season at Santa Anita, where the Breeders’ Cup Distaff will be run on Nov. 4.
“She loves Santa Anita, that’s her favorite track,” Baffert said. Up until Saturday, Santa Anita was the only track where she had won. Baffert said he is likely to run Adare Manor in the Grade 2 Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 1 as her BC Distaff prep.
Adare Manor earned a fees-paid berth in the BC Distaff by winning the Hirsch, while showing versatility that was not required in three recent wire-to-wire wins: an allowance, followed by the Santa Maria and Santa Margarita Stakes.
Hirsch runner-up Desert Dawn rallied wide and briefly looked like a threat at the top of the lane, but her rally was one length short. Elm Drive set fractions of :46.68 and 1:11.30 racing over a dirt surface that has been kind this week to inside speed. She finished 1 1/2 lengths back in third. Elm Drive is probably best at one turn.
Kirstenbosch raced in fourth position and did not rally. Fun to Dream saved ground in third and surrendered in the stretch while making her first start in nearly five months. Adare Manor was the 15th favorite to win the Hirsch in the past 24 years.
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